


We Deserved Better

by actual_aestival



Category: FFXV - Fandom, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, M/M, Post Time Skip, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 03:17:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9365660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actual_aestival/pseuds/actual_aestival
Summary: Noctis is back. He wishes he had more time.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on some random thoughts me and miklickleo on Twitter had on our FFXV Discord Server and it made us sad and cry and yeah this happened

Prompto presses his face against Noctis'. Forehead to forehead. This is real. _This is real. This is real_. Prompto is _here_. After ten years. Prompto is still here. He is solid. He is corporeal.

Prompto is real.

((But one time... One time he wasn't, was he? Prompto wasn't Prompto. Noctis had hurt him. He hurt him and betrayed him. He couldn't forgive himself.))

Noctis pushes this away. It's been ten years and he isn't going to dwell on that again. He has to focus on what's in front of him. _Who_ is in front of him. _This is_ Prompto. This isn't an illusion.

Noctis digs his fingers into his friends arms, ignoring the small sound of discomfort it incites. He has to know. _He has to know._

"Hey, buddy... I'm here," he whispers as if he understands. He probably does. He's probably thinking the same things. He leans only a fraction away to get a better look at Noctis. His eyes are scrutinizing as they take in the scruff, the shaggy hair, the tired eyes. This is the first time they've been alone since Noctis came back. "It's me."

Noctis hangs onto his words, onto that voice he's longed to hear. "Yeah... yeah..." He closes his eyes. Swallows. Nods. He can feel him. It's him.

Noctis hates being alone, and alone is exactly what he's been for the last ten long years. He doesn't want to be alone again. He hates what it brings. He thinks of everyone he's lost, everyone he's hurt. He can't keep this up. They expected too much from him. He was only 20 and they gave him a crown bearing the weight of the world. Prompto didn't ask any of that though. Prompto has never asked him to be more than he is.

Now Noctis needs to repay him. For everything.

Prompto's forehead is touching his again and he's pulling him closer. His arms wrap around Noctis as he leans against a wall. His breath catches for a second, and the years they've spent together lets Noctis know it's worry. No amount of time apart could change the fact that he knows this man inside and out.

"You okay?" Prompto asks quietly.

He shakes his head and shifts so that it rests on Prompto's shoulder. He hears him sigh. It's shaky and quick.

"Me neither." His voice is barely a whisper.

Noctis forces back tears. He feels selfish. He isn't the only one hurting. He isn't the only one who feels this way- broken, alone, scared. What had Prompto been through all these years? What horrors had he witnessed? He moves his hands to Prompto's vest, holding onto the fabric like it's his only lifeline.

Prompto is still scared. And why shouldn't he be? He got tossed into this mess with the least amount of preparation. Noctis was taken from him. The world is in darkness. Now Noctis is back. Though... it isn't for long. Noctis knows this moment is a lot to process, and he thinks that Prompto is doing a hell of a job.

Noctis presses against him, trying to get closer. He needs to get closer. Against his better judgement he speaks, "how do I know this is real?" He feels his friends goatee scratch up his neck as he plants a kiss in the black hair. "What if this is a dream?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm real. Maybe." A laugh is caught in his throat. "Sometimes I wish it was, dude."

_If this is only a dream_ , Noctis thinks, _at least it is a good one_.

This isn't fair.

But,

Life never is, is it?

It's not fair.

Noctis knows his fate. Knows what he's supposed to do. Prompto wishes this all was a dream. Everything that they've been through... Insomnia. Altissia. Tenebrae. Gralea. The things that Noctis had missed... Nothing was the same. Everything was broken.

_Like us_.

"We deserve better," he says into the hard fabric of Prompto's vest. _Gods, we deserve much better than we've had_.

Prompto exhales. He hesitates, the answer being something he's thought about all too often. "Do we really?" His arms shift around Noctis into a comforting embrace.

Noctis lifts his head and looks at Prompto for a long moment before speaking.

" _You_ do."

He means it, and it breaks his heart. His best friend. More than best friend. How could he ever convey what he feels? The gods gave him this last moment in this reprieve. All he has is tonight, and he wants to make it worth something. _I wanted to spend my life with you. I couldn't protect you_.

He couldn't save his father. He couldn't save Jared. He couldn't save Luna. He couldn't even save Prompto from himself.

He's going to change that. He's going to make it all worth something.

Prompto deserves every happiness that could be given to him, Noctis thinks. He deserves the world, and Noctis wants to give it to him.

He knows he can't.

He can't give him happiness or the world.

All he can give him is a sunrise.


End file.
